Armed Cossacks pour in to fight Georgians

Hundreds, possibly thousands, of volunteer fighters from Russia were mobilising to enter the war in Georgia's breakaway republic of South Ossetia last night.

Units of armed Cossacks from across the North Caucasus region which borders Georgia were poised to join the battle for the separatists' capital, Tskhinvali.

In North Ossetia, the region of Russia which shares cultural links and a border with South Ossetia, lists of men willing to fight against Georgian forces were drawn up. Vitaly Khubayev, 35, from the capital, Vladikavkaz, told the Guardian: "There are already two busloads of fighters leaving for Tskhinvali every day. They give you a uniform on the way and you get issued with weapons once you arrive. If I didn't have three children I'd have gone."

The two Ossetias are historically inseparable and residents of the northern republic were furious yesterday at what they described as the "Georgian fascist attack" on their neighbours.

Many said they were willing to take up arms and travel to defend their relatives across the border in South Ossetia. Valentin Tekhti, 67, a teacher, said: "Our Ossetian brothers are dying. If we get the call, every man who can stand on two legs will go to fight."

Amiran Khubetsov, a doctor, said: "A nation is under bombardment in the land it has occupied for hundreds of years. The world must not ignore this aggression."

At a special meeting of the UN security council yesterday morning, the United States called on the Kremlin to prevent irregulars entering South Ossetia via the 4km Roki tunnel, the republic's only link with Russia. But at a meeting with the US president, George Bush, in Bejing, the Russian prime minister, Vladimir Putin, admitted "many volunteers" were heading to South Ossetia and it would be "very hard to maintain peace".

Under Russia law, Cossacks - the descendants of runaway serfs and outlaws who in the past were employed to protect the country's southern border - are allowed to carry arms and carry out policing functions in cooperation with interior ministry forces.

At the headquarters of the Terek Cossacks in Vladikavkaz yesterday a group of men sat under portraits of fierce looking warriors with drooping moustaches watching television coverage of Georgian artillery shelling Tskhinvali. One man said there would be a meeting today to discuss forming volunteer units.

In Volgograd the leader of the Don Cossacks, Viktor Vodolatsky, called on all Cossacks under 40 to volunteer. Reports said 100 men from the region had already left for Tskhinvali. "We must help our South Ossetian brothers," he said.

Irregular troops from the north Caucasus played an important role in the conflicts that saw both Georgia's breakaway regions, Abkhazia and South Ossetia, secede in the early 1990s.

In Abkhazia, Cossack and Chechen units fought side by side against Georgian troops, despite being historical enemies. Abkhazia has promised to help South Ossetia in its conflict with Georgia.

Ossetians in Vladikavkaz yesterday said they were hoping for a decisive strike by the Russian army to drive Georgia's forces out of South Ossetia. There were emotional scenes in the city, as hundreds of protesters, mostly women, gathered outside the regional government headquarters and shouted, "Russia, save us!"

Aelita Dzhioyeva, 41, a lawyer who fled Tskhinvali on Thursday evening, showed text messages on her mobile phone from relatives still sheltering in a basement in the city. One message read: "We are dying. Ask the government for help."

Dzhioyeva said: "Our men will stay and fight until the last drop of blood, but our old people and children must be saved. We are calling on the Kremlin to intervene and create a humanitarian corridor for them to escape."

Shota Kochiev, 60, said: "This is America's doing. They are supporting Georgia's mad lust for new land - our land."

About 2,000 refugees from South Ossetia, mostly women and children, have so far been bussed to Russia and are staying in hotels around Vladikavkaz.